1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packages that hold individual servings of spreadable material such as butter or margarine and that serve as a spreader for such material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Individual containers are used in restaurants for dispensing individual portions of liquid coffee whitener, and spreadable materials such as butter and ketchup. Many of these containers are cup-shaped and utilize peelable membranes to hermetically seal their contents until the contents are to be used. Examples of such containers are included in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ Inventor U.S. Pat. No. ______________________________________ French Pat. 1,488,333 Mason 2,705,579 Wayne 3,069,273 Inman 3,660,960 Redmond 4,369,885 Brodsky 4,384,649 ______________________________________
Individual dispenser packages made of heat sealable sheets for holding ketchup or the like, and which must be cut or torn to release the contents are described in the Lowry U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,805.
Applicators are described in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ Inventor U.S. Pat. No. ______________________________________ Wattle 3,082,468 Repko 3,453,661 Hellstrom 3,635,376 Redmond et al 4,493,574 ______________________________________
Other types of flexible packaging for packaging various types of powders and flowable materials are described in the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ Inventor U.S. Pat. No. ______________________________________ Greene 1,438,487 Johnson 2,864,108 Spees 3,053,385 Betner 3,101,870 O'Connor 3,184,895 Robe 3,418,059 Ausnit 4,196,030 Washington 4,391,368 French Pat. 1,398,922 French Pat. 1,278,643 ______________________________________
The Campbell U.S. Pat No. 4,648,506 describes a package with spreader that is hermetically sealed for storing relatively stiff spreadable material such as butter. The package includes a base with a peelable membrane. A portion of the base from which the membrane is peeled is used as a spreader portion for spreading the material within the package. The spreader portion is flat and needs to be relatively thick so that it is stiff enough to provide the support needed to spread relatively stiff margarine or butter.